“We are extremely pleased to introduce the Institute Class of 2020 as well as announce our plans for Leadership Long Beach for the upcoming year,” Board President Cathy Gies, Director at MemorialCare Medical Foundation said in a statment Monday, Aug. 19. “With the great energy around out 30th Anniversary celebration, we had many fantastic candidates and it was very difficult to choose just 35 local leaders for this year’s class. We know that this diverse cohort of leaders will help extend our reach in order to better serve our community.”

The class includes:

Lori Andrews, Long Beach Unified School District

Nick Arce, MemorialCare / Long Beach Medical Center

Margaret Blevins, Long Beach Day Nursery

Christina Boatwright, City of Long Beach, Department of Health & Human Services

Scott Bristol, Brascia Builders, Inc.

Jill Buczkowski Unze, Community volunteer

Norma Carrillo, Long Beach Police Department

Norm Cauntay, Edward Jones

Josefina Cruz Molina, Centro CHA, Inc.

Shana Giles, Shana Giles Real Estate

Matt Hamlett, Office of Long Beach City Councilman Rex Richardson, 9th District

Cynthia Howell, Long Beach Forward

Daniel Ihlenfeldt, P2S, Inc.

Anzania Jackson, Long Beach Fire Department

Alie LeBeau, Aquarium of the Pacific

Bridget Lewis, Port of Long Beach

Anthony Lopez, Long Beach Police Department

Timothy Lott, The Boeing Company

Drew Martinez, City of Long Beach, Technology Department

Eva Melgarejo, New American Funding

Corey Merritt, Cleveland Integrity Services

Kathryn Miles, Jewish Family & Children Services

Shefali Mistry, California State University, Office of the Chancellor

Santiago Ogradón Cortés, Keller Williams Coastal Properties

Jon Peterson, P3 Theatre Company

Desiree Rew, Desiree Eats and Travels, LLC

Phyllis Mechell Roberts, City of Long Beach, Housing Authority

Lucy Salazar, Long Beach Unified School District

Brian Savala, Nova Home Loans

Lindsay Smith, Sowing Seeds of Change

China Thomas, Long Beach Transit

Nancy Villaseñor, City of Long Beach, Public Works Department

Trevor Wawrzynski, Long Beach Fire Department

Kaylee Weatherly, Long Beach Water Department

Kimberly Wee, Century Villages at Cabrillo

LLB Executive Director Jeff Williams called the class “another amazing group of community leaders” to add to the 1,700 plus almni who have gonethrough the 30 previous classes.

Throughout the 10-month program, class members attend monthly day-long sessions, learning about various aspects of the Long Beach community and focusing on leadership principles and values. Each class concludes their year by completing service projects which demonstrate their understanding of community issues and benefit Long Beach. Since its inception, Leadership Long Beach participants have completed over 125 community service projects— many of them still making an impact in the city.

A welcome reception and introduction of the new class to the public will be held at 5:30 p.m. Aug. 26 at Rancho Los Cerritos, 4600 Virginia Road. Long Beach.

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